In the Summer of 2018 I was selected as the North West 'Border Bound' artist-in-residence, a studio boat residency travelling from Chester to Llangollen with Studio Boat founders and artists Ellie Young and Amber Mottram.
Their project offers opportunities for Welsh visual artists, film makers or musicians to be taken on a residential journey through North Wales into England, to one of the cities connected by waterways. An artist from a North West city then undertakes the journey back into Wales thereby creating links between different artistic communities. The residency offered the chance to slow down, reconnect to my practice but also an opportunity to collaborate with others, new and daily changing surroundings.
Bringing only a handful of materials and cyanotype on board, we were able to spend the week together experimenting with found flora and boat paraphernalia to create new collaborative imagery. As the week developed I also became more interested in the casting on and casting off of the ropes over bollards and found connections between this action and my own (amature) knitting practice. Picking up my knitting needles, to create a third boat rope, a cathartic process, mirroring the pace of the journey. I also became drawn to the relationships of women by the canal, including ourselves, and captured audio bites with the women of the canal as we travelled from Chester to North Wales.
The residency resulted in an 'Open Boat' event at Llangollen Tea rooms, which saw over 40 people on board and we were happy to be part of the bustling atmosphere by the tea rooms and horse stables in this beautiful part of the country. You can listen to the sound piece HERE.
